Suede AI Video Production

This skill turns an approved message and rights-cleared source material into scripts, storyboards, generation plans, edit systems, and reusable production pipelines. It keeps likeness, licensing, brand assets, render cost, and publishing as explicit gates rather than assumptions.

Before Starting

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Gather this context (ask if not provided):

1. Video Goal

• What type of video? (Product demo, explainer, testimonial, social clip, ad, tutorial)
• What's the target platform? (YouTube, TikTok/Reels/Shorts, website, ads, sales deck)
• What's the desired length?

2. Production Approach

• Do you need a human presenter? (AI avatar vs. voiceover vs. screen recording)
• Do you have existing footage or assets? (Screenshots, logos, product UI)
• Do you need generated footage? (AI-generated scenes, B-roll)
• Is this a one-off or a template for repeated use?

3. Technical Context

• What's your tech stack? (Node.js, Python, etc.)
• Do you have API keys for any video tools?
• Budget constraints? (Some tools charge per minute of video)

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Choosing Your Approach

Choose the production method from the job, available evidence, rights, and currently callable tools:

Approach	Candidate fit	Tools to evaluate	Use when
Programmatic	Templated, data-driven, batch video	An installed HTML/CSS or React renderer	The format repeats and deterministic output matters
AI generation	Original footage from text/image prompts	Any currently authorized generation model	The scene cannot be filmed practically and output rights are verified
AI avatars	Approved presenter without filming	Any currently authorized avatar platform	Consent, likeness, voice, localization, and output rights are documented
Editing/repurposing	Cutting long-form into short clips	Any installed transcript or timeline editor	Source media and derivative-use rights are available

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Programmatic Video

Programmatic video is a candidate for repeatable, templated, or data-driven work; verify fit against the current stack, edit needs, cost, and review burden.

HTML/CSS renderer candidate

Hyperframes may fit an HTML/CSS workflow. First check whether it is installed. If it is, read the installed version's documentation, inspect its license, and confirm the renderer and export path. If it is not installed, use a renderer-neutral handoff or request explicit installation authorization after showing the current package source, version, lockfile impact, and cost. The following command must not run without that authorization:

npm install hyperframes

Key concept: Each frame is an HTML document. Compose frames into a timeline, render to MP4.

import { render } from "hyperframes";

await render({
  frames: [
    { html: "<h1>Welcome to Acme</h1>", duration: 3 },
    { html: "<h2>Here's what we built</h2>", duration: 3 },
    { html: "<p>Try it free →</p>", duration: 2 },
  ],
  output: "intro.mp4",
  width: 1080,
  height: 1920, // 9:16 for vertical
});

Candidate fit: Product announcements, changelogs, data-driven reports, and approved personalized outreach videos. Verify determinism with a repeat-render test instead of assuming it.

React renderer candidate

Remotion may fit a React-based workflow. Verify the installed or callable version, current documentation, license, rendering path, and hosting cost. The scaffold command may install packages or create files; run it only with explicit authorization for that change, otherwise provide a renderer-neutral plan:

npx create-video@latest

Key concept to verify: React components express timed visuals and props drive content. Confirm whether rendering is local or uses an authorized hosted renderer.

Read references/programmatic-renderers.md when the repo already uses React, or when the choice between the HTML/CSS and React paths has to be justified: it carries the React component sample and the renderer selection table.

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AI Video Generation

Generate original footage from text or image prompts. Use for B-roll, hero visuals, and scenes you can't practically film.

Model comparison

Discover currently callable and authorized models before recommending one. Read current official documentation and run a bounded test on the actual account. Compare:

Criterion	Evidence to capture
Output fit	Resolution, duration, audio, motion, and consistency from current docs plus a test clip
Control	Reference-image, camera, edit, seed, and storyboard controls actually exposed
Operations	Queue time, failure rate, export path, and repeatability
Rights	Input rights, output rights, model restrictions, consent, and provenance
Economics	Current plan, per-generation cost, failed-generation treatment, and budget cap

If no model is callable and authorized, return a shot list, prompt set, reference-frame brief, and manual vendor-evaluation checklist.

Prompting for Video Models

Good video prompts specify: subject + action + camera + style + mood

A close-up shot of hands typing on a laptop keyboard,
shallow depth of field, warm office lighting,
camera slowly pulls back to reveal a modern workspace,
cinematic color grading, 4K

Common mistakes:

• Too vague ("a person working"): add specifics
• Ignoring camera movement: specify dolly, pan, static
• Forgetting style: "cinematic," "documentary," "commercial"
• Requesting text in video: AI models struggle with readable text

For detailed prompting guides: See references/ai-video-prompting.md

AI Generation vs. Stock Evaluation

Use Case	Generation evidence to test	Stock/original evidence to test
Specific scene	Prompt control, continuity, review burden	Search coverage, license, edit fit
Style continuity	Cross-clip consistency in a bounded test	Match quality across licensed clips
Real location	Factual accuracy and disclosure risk	Provenance and location release
Product/brand	UI and mark fidelity; avoid fabricated product claims	Approved real captures or assets
B-roll	Queue time, failure rate, cost	Search and licensing time

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AI Avatars

Create talking-head videos without filming. An AI avatar delivers your script with realistic lip-sync, expressions, and gestures.

Avatar tool evaluation

HeyGen is one possible avatar platform, not a guaranteed or preferred integration. Before naming it or another vendor, verify current official documentation, authenticated access, callable API or connector availability, plan limits, price, output rights, body-motion and script-ingestion controls, localization and export requirements, and the consent requirements for every voice or likeness involved.

If no avatar tool is currently callable and authorized, provide a manual vendor-neutral workflow: approved script, consent record, user-operated upload, export checklist, and a real-camera or voiceover fallback.

Possible fit to test: product explainers, feature announcements, multilingual versions, and approved personalized outreach.

Avatar vs. Other-Approach Test

Scenario	Avatar evidence to verify	Alternative to compare
Recurring content	Consent, repeatability, audience response	Recorded presenter or voiceover
Multilingual versions	Translation, pronunciation, disclosure	Human localization
Personalized outreach	Consent, claim review, cost, reply quality	Approved text or recorded template
Founder message	Trust and disclosure response	Direct recording
Product UI walkthrough	Presenter value around real captures	Screen recording
Creative/artistic video	Control, originality, rights	Original footage or generated scenes

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Editing & Repurposing Tools

Turn existing content into multiple video formats.

Treat the named products as candidates. Discover what is currently installed or callable, verify the user's account and rights, then map the workflow to the available tool. If none is available, return an edit decision list, clip timestamps, captions, and export settings for manual execution.

Candidate capability	What to verify	Candidate fit
Transcript editor	Speaker accuracy, cut control, export, privacy	Interviews, podcasts, webinars
Clip assistant	Selection controls, provenance, false-positive rate	Long-form to short-form review
Timeline editor	Caption, effect, audio-rights, and export controls	Platform-specific finishing
Accessibility assistant	Caption accuracy, eye-contact disclosure, dubbing consent	Approved talking-head content

Repurposing Workflow

Long-form content (podcast, webinar, demo)
    ↓
Transcript edit: Clean up, remove filler, polish
    ↓
Clip review: Propose moments with source timestamps
    ↓
Timeline edit: Add reviewed captions, effects, and platform styling
    ↓
Distribute: TikTok, Reels, Shorts, LinkedIn

Reverse-Engineer a Viral Edit

To study the style of a reference edit, first discover whether an authorized media-inspection, browser, or local-file viewer is currently callable. If one is available, inspect the actual frames and timing. Otherwise ask the user to attach the media, screenshots, or a timecoded export and provide a manual frame-sampling checklist. Then extract a reusable beat sheet plus the 3–5 signature moves. Review it before execution in any currently available editor. Copy the editing grammar, never the reference's footage, script, voice, or music. Full method: references/edit-anatomy.md.

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Video Production Workflows

Product Demo Video

1. Script the key features and value props (use suede-copy skill)
2. Screen record the product flow
3. Programmatic overlay: use an available authorized renderer for titles, callouts, and transitions, or provide manual editor instructions
4. AI B-roll: only with a discovered authorized generator and verified rights; otherwise use licensed stock or original footage
5. Voiceover: record yourself or use AI avatar for narration
6. Export at platform-appropriate specs

Explainer Video

1. Script the problem → solution → CTA arc
2. Choose presenter: an approved avatar workflow when available, or recorded voiceover plus visuals
3. Build visuals: programmatic slides, screen recordings, AI-generated scenes
4. Add captions as an accessibility default and verify their accuracy
5. Export only after checking current destination requirements and previewing the authenticated composer; do not assume a universal orientation

Batch Social Clips

1. Create master template in an available authorized renderer or a manual editor project
2. Feed data: product features, testimonials, stats
3. Render batch: one template, many variations
4. Add platform-specific captions with an available editor
5. Return approved export candidates to suede-social for channel strategy; scheduling remains a separate explicit action

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Tool-Aware Video Pipeline

Use automation only after discovering currently callable, authenticated, and authorized tools. Otherwise produce the same artifacts as a manual handoff.

Approved script (from product context)
    ↓
Available renderer/avatar/generator, if authorized
    or manual editor with timecoded instructions
    ↓
Review cut, rights, captions, and brand assets
    ↓
Output: Approved export candidate, not automatically published

When no production tool is available, return the script, shot list, asset manifest, beat sheet, captions, edit decision list, and export settings so the user can execute the cut manually, in these exact headings:

## Script
<scene or beat> | on-camera or VO line | duration target

## Shot List
Shot # | source (screen capture / owned footage / licensed / generated) | framing | notes

## Asset Manifest
Asset | origin | rights basis and holder | expiry or attribution required | file path

## Beat Sheet
Use the row schema in references/edit-anatomy.md (Beat | Time | Shot |
On-screen text | Caption style | Transition/motion | Audio) plus its style
summary. Do not invent a second beat-sheet format.

## Captions
Full caption text with timecodes; state the accuracy check performed.

## Edit Decision List
Clip # | source file | in TC | out TC | placement | transition | audio bed

## Export Settings
Destination | ratio | resolution | frame rate | codec | max duration | verified
against (current spec source + date)

## Open Gates
<missing rights, consent, cost approval, or brand asset; use the halt contract>

For the beat sheet and its style summary, read references/edit-anatomy.md before writing the handoff: it owns that row schema.

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Export Specs and Video Search

Verified platform facts (October 2026):

Destination	Fact	Source
YouTube Shorts	Up to 3 minutes for square or vertical uploads made on or after Oct 15, 2024. Over 1 minute with an active Content ID claim, the Short is blocked worldwide.	https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/15424877
Instagram Reels	Up to 3 minutes; profile grid previews crop to 3:4, so keep the subject inside a 3:4 safe area of the 9:16 frame	Instagram announcement, January 2025
Performance Max	Supply your own 16:9, 1:1, and 9:16 videos of 10 seconds or more, or Google may auto-generate one	https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/17091269

For other destinations, read the current upload spec and preview the authenticated composer before choosing ratio, resolution, or duration.

Make the video findable. A video that answers a question people search can earn views for years on YouTube and in Google's video results. For any video meant to be found:

1. Title: the search phrase and the promise, phrase first, under about 70 characters so it is not truncated in results.
2. Description: the first two lines restate the answer in plain words; the rest adds links and context.
3. Chapters: timestamps starting at 0:00 with descriptive names, which Google can show as key moments.
4. Captions and transcript: upload accurate captions instead of relying on auto-captions, and publish the transcript on the page that embeds the video.
5. Embed on an owned page with VideoObject JSON-LD (name, description, thumbnailUrl, uploadDate, duration, contentUrl or embedUrl) and the video visible on load, so the page itself can rank and be cited in AI answers.
6. Thumbnail: one readable idea at small size; real product UI, never a fabricated one.

When the video must lead viewers to a written guide, route to suede-clip-to-guide. For site-level video indexing and schema audits, route to suede-seo-audit.

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Common Mistakes

1. Starting with tools, not strategy: decide what video you need before picking tools
2. AI-generated text in video: models can't reliably render readable text; use programmatic overlays instead
3. Unverified avatar quality: test a short consented sample before paying for or producing a batch
4. Inaccessible cut: provide accurate captions without asserting a universal sound-off viewing rate
5. Unverified export spec: read current destination requirements and preview the actual composer before choosing ratio, resolution, or duration
6. Unsupported production-style claim: compare polished and informal treatments on the current account instead of claiming one universally wins

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Halt Contract

Use this exact format when tool authorization, cost approval, rights, consent, or an approved brand asset blocks the requested result, including the install and scaffold gates above and the brand-mark gate in Boundaries:

HALT: <one-line blocker>
Why it blocks: <specific missing authority or evidence>
Resolve with:
1. <option>
2. <option>
3. <option, when useful>
Waiting for: <the exact item or approval>

Continue with the manual-handoff artifacts above only when they remain useful and do not imply the blocker was resolved or that a render occurred.

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Boundaries

• Do not generate, render, purchase, upload, or publish media without approval of scope, tool cost, rights, and destination.
• Do not clone a real person's voice or likeness, use unlicensed source media, or promise an exact copy of a reference style or edit.
• For Suede-branded visuals, use only the approved transparent Suede S asset at JasonColapietro/suede-creator-skills/docs/assets/suede-ai-logo-transparent.png with SHA-256 83a7ee0317e4debe2e7b076c20ba067feb76a587f9e829dc6310ae4be4b44dfa; if it is missing or changed, omit the mark and halt for the approved file.

Routing

• Use suede-social to choose channel strategy, cadence, and distribution.
• Use suede-clip-to-guide when a clip has to bridge to an article, newsletter, or guide.
• Use suede-ad-creative for paid video ad concepts and variants.
• Use suede-image for still-image generation and editing.
• Use suede-copy for source-verified script and messaging polish.